December 13, 2011
Last night a large
crowd of 36 members and friends gathered at the
Ragin Cajun Restaurant to hear former Houston
Astros player and current Astros Broadcaster Jim
Desahies talk about his 25 years in major league
baseball. Jim arrived a little early in order
to be interviewed by a young girl in attendance
who is writing a paper for her school on why left
handed pitchers appear to have more success in
getting right handed hitters out than right handed
pitchers. Leslie promised to provide us with a
copy of the finished product. She would make a
great SABR member..
Jim delighted those present with
numerous stories about his playing career, starting
with his debut with the Yankees in 1984 (I need
a uniform) to the magical season of 1986 and
finally to the time when his pitching skills
started to erode and what he did to try to extend
his career. Jim also discussed how he got into
broadcasting, told an amazing story about pitcher
Mark Portugal pitching coach.Bob Cluck and fireworks
in Cincinnati and closed by reading his adaption
of the poem "Casey at the Bat". Good
stuff
Chris Chestnut follolwed with
a paper on "Popping Out For the Cycle"
based on remarks made by Mr. Desahies during
the season. Other discussions centered on the
recently conductred Larry Dierker Roast, 2012
Hall of Fame candidates,and an update on the
Houston Baseball History Project by Bill McCurdy.
Jo Russell advised that the Houston
Baseball Dinner date has been changed to FridayFebruary
10th and we were advisied this morning that
the Astros' Fan Fest will now follow on February
11th.
The trivia contest penned by Mike
McCroskey was won by who else but Tom White.
We were saddened to learn that
the father of SABR member Dave Raymond passed
away the same day as our meeting.
Our next meeting is scheduled
for Tuesday January 10th at the Regin Cajun.
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